Dear ECS,
Wow honey, what a whirlwind we have been on these last 6
weeks. From Addis to Berlin to DC to
Corpus Christi to Charlottesville to Chicago to Montana to the overnight train
to Portland to Seattle to Salt Lake and now on the plane to Maine. The movement has been exhilarating (and a
little exhausting for your mom and dad), seeing and being in so many amazing
parts of our great country. With so many
loved ones, both family and friends who have known you or about to know you for
your whole life; and have known your mom and/or dad for so many years.
The movement has been a little challenging at times for you,
with so many faces to play with along the way.
Saying goodbye is hard for a 4 year old, and for a 39 year old, and we
have had to say goodbye to a lot of loved ones these last 6 weeks. But that means we have also gotten to say
hello to those same great people and to get to spend some treasured time with
them. The goodbyes are worth it, but it
is hard for you in those moments and we try to be as empathic and understanding
as possible for all the processing you are doing about family, relationships
and movement.
During these last weeks, we have gotten to spend so much
time together as whole family. This
works out really well, as Mu, you and me all love this time. I am already projecting forward despite my
better instincts to when we land in Cairo in a month and revert back to the
normal rhythms of our family, with both your mom and dad working and you in
school. That is the rhythm that allows
us to be the people we need to be for the foreseeable future, engaged in our
lives, learning and working outside of our house. But this treasured time in the US and the
duality of both frenetic travel and lingering whole family time means that this
is our new normal, 10 weeks is enough to reset our internal family biorhythms.
There has been part of this US tour, mostly out West, that
had us apart as a whole family. Your mom
was generous and enabled me to go on a serious backpacking adventure with Sean,
my college buddy, and some other friends in the Teton Wilderness for a week. This trip was deep in the wilderness, by some
measures we went to the most remote point in the lower 48 at Bridger Lake not
far from the Yellowstone River. We
crossed rivers swollen with snowmelt and a mountain pass still decidedly in the
frozen tundra of winter. We covered a
ton of ground and were the first people in much of the terrain we crossed and privileged
to be in some of the prettiest and wildest parts of our great country. We saw
a grizzly above our camp on our second to last night in the backcountry.
Throughout the trip, I was constantly thinking and talking
about you and Muriel, as 4 of the 5 guys on the trip are dads and husbands and
much of our talks were about the shared joys and challenges of those two
roles. And I was also thinking about an
imagined and hopeful future when we are able to do these kinds of adventures as
whole family. Given how challenging the trip was and how
remote we were for most of it, that future is many years in the future. But it is there and coming closer by the day.
One recurring thought I had as we were
on the trip/adventure was how vital this part of my life is to my
self-identity, being comfortable and thriving in the wilderness. This is part of your dad (and mom) that you
can’t know about yet, without the full context.
We have started you skiing, climbing and hiking, all of which you
love. But it is going to be quite awhile
before we can fully share in this part of our life.
One thing that was a powerful thread of the backpacking trip
was the unspoiled nature and wildlife we saw, with so many different mammals
and birds thriving in the deep wilderness.
The grand vistas, roaring rivers, calm lakes, and calm animals created a
visual cornucopia, a constant for the entire seven days in the backcountry. When 100% of your time is in such wonder, I
find my mind calms and the peacefulness
feels primal. Which is a weird combo
because peace and primal are not things that usually correlated. This feeling, for me, only comes from being
deep in nature, and there is a process in the first couple of days of settling
into the calm. With your/our future only
projected to become more busy and noisy, I predict being able to retreat to
nature for a respite and renewal will only become more important.
A second clear thread from my trip was the camaraderie,
friendship and teamwork that we enjoyed on the trip. This bond and coming together into a sum
greater than its constituent parts is one of my favorite parts of trips, and
being on teams generally. Everyone on
my trip has spent plenty of time in the backcountry and knows the tools of the
trade, so everyone could fill many roles on the trip. This is what makes a team powerful. Sean was the clear leader; it was his 40th
party, his vision and his bringing us together.
This is great, as teams need a leader.
You are still in the process of figuring out friendships, which is
frankly going to be something you do for decades. I am still working on this as a friend to
loved ones, some whom I have known for many decades and some less than a year.
\
With that honey, we have about another month in the US and
London before we get to Cairo. It is
going to be a continued fun adventure, and one that will mostly in New
England. Let’s hope we keep up the great
memories and adventures.
love,
dad
